Junior Achievement to Launch Financial Program for Detroit Students

By Emma Klug

Published: Monday, June 13, 2016

Junior Achievement volunteers work with eighth graders through the hands-on, high-tech program.

Junior Achievement of Southeast Michigan in downtown Detroit is launching a financial literacy program aimed at teaching every eighth grade student in the city how to manage money, and create and sustain wealth.

"Detroit's economic recovery will not be sustainable or inclusive of all our citizens if we don't teach the next generation how to manage money and create wealth," says Margaret Trimer-Hartley, president and CEO of Junior Achievement of Southeastern Michigan. "No one is better positioned than Junior Achievement to give youth the tools to engage in and contribute to the marketplace."

Sponsored by General Motors Financial, along with the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, the JA Financial Freedom Project will be offered at no cost to all 8,000 Detroit eighth-graders through the city’s public, charter public, and private schools.

The three-year program, which will begin with the 2016-17 school year, will include up to 25 hours of instruction in personal finance and entrepreneurship. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in a hands-on field trip to the Quicken Loans JA Finance Park (577 E. Larned), a 12,500-square-foot financial learning campus that features branded business storefronts from the Somerset Collection in Troy, Quicken Loans Inc. in Detroit, and Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. in Detroit, among others.

All of Detroit's public, charter public, and private schools, regardless of governance or affiliation, are eligible to participate in the project.

"This is an investment in Detroit's future," Trimer-Hartley says. "It's also an investment in the lives of 8,000 kids who deserve a chance at the American Dream."

Founded in 1949, Junior Achievement of Southeast Michigan provides financial literacy, workforce readiness, and entrepreneurship education to nearly 50,000 students in the metro Detroit area.